Chance to fix Australia’s broken nature laws

Can Murray Watt fix Australia’s broken nature laws? First stop, Western Australia Published: May 20, 2025 Image: Environmental protection Bill card on Local Matters (LOMA) where you can encourage your representative to support the Bill Author Disclosure statement New federal Environment Minister Murray Watt is in Western Australia this week to reboot nature law reform. Reform stalledin the Senate last term,…

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Everything you need to know about Australia’s new home battery subsidy

From eligibility to cost, here’s how households and businesses can take advantage of the cheaper home batteries program Royce Kurmelovs Sat 17 May 2025 in The Guardian It’s not an overstatement to say Australians love solar power. Without batteries, though, households have struggled to take full advantage of their rooftop systems. Either they don’t capture all…

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What behavioral strategies motivate climate action?

Figure: comparing behaviours to motivate climate action from Alyssa H. Sinclair, Danielle Cosme, Kirsten Lydic, Diego A. Reinero, José Carreras-Tartak, Michael E. Mann, Emily B. Falk. Behavioral interventions motivate action to address climate change. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2025; 122 (20) DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2426768122 A collaborative study tested 17 strategies in an ‘intervention…

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EPBC Act: What’s changing – and why it matters for renewable energy projects

Katharine Huxley May 12, 2025 Renew economy On March 26, 2025, the Parliament of Australia passed the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Amendment (Reconsiderations) Bill 2025, changing how some environmental decisions can be reviewed under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act). The Bill limits the power of the minister for the environment…

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Ross Garnaut: Labor’s historic victory could change global energy trade

Hydrogen is an elusive gas; making it from renewable energy is proving an elusive business. (ABC News) By business reporter Gareth Hutchens  on abc news Sunday 11 May Labor’s historic election win means Australia has an opportunity to change the global energy trade. Ross Garnaut says this moment is significant. Four days after Labor’s historic…

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Worried about the cost of electricity? No, they can afford it – but are more worried about carbon emissions and climate change – so the very high cost of energy transition is worth it.

Maps: Federal Election primary vote results by booth, based on Electoral Commission data, and reported by The Sydney Morning Herald. Above is Melbourne. Winning the suburbs is the key to winning elections. By Ross Elliott – posted Wednesday, 7 May 2025 in Online opinion There’s a great line from the comedy show Kath & Kim, where…

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Ethical super fund says QBE ‘not joining the dots’ between fossil fuel projects and rising premiums

Image: Here’s how the fossil fuel barons who are raking in billions, are making you poorer. The burning of coal/gas ⬆️ global temps, that ⬆️ #climate catastrophes, that ⬆️ insurance costs, that ⬆️ CPI, that ⬆️ inflation, and ⬆️ mortgages. They profit, we pay. Comment: Dr Rhonda Garad @rhondagarad.bsky.social @RhondaGarad Guardian graphic Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Consumer Price Index,…

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Five priorities for the next parliament if we want a liveable Australia

April 29, 2025 by Polly Hemming From The Australia Institute Climate and nature crises won’t pause while politics plays out. The environment doesn’t care who’s in government — but Australians should. If we want to avoid catastrophic climate and biodiversity collapse, the next parliament has a clear path forward. Here are five urgent, evidence-based actions ready…

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Scientific path to recouping the costs of climate change

Image from Christopher W. Callahan, Justin S. Mankin. Carbon majors and the scientific case for climate liability. Nature, 2025; 640 (8060): 893 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-08751-3 Framework for tying emissions from individual fossil-fuel companies to specific damages linked to climate change Date: April 23, 2025 Source: Dartmouth College in Science Daily Summary: A new study lays out…

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Enshrining ‘Rights of Nature’ into constitution makes the protection of nature enforceable.

What if Mother Earth could sue for mistreatment? Legal framework to protect people and planet Date: April 21, 2025 Source: University of Vermont Summary: The study highlights the transformative potential of the Rights of Nature, which views nature as a rights-bearing entity, not merely an object of regulation and subjugation by extractive industries. The Llurimagua…

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Delaying climate action will only worsen the ‘cost of living’ crisis

Tariffs will raise prices. But the climate crisis is the real inflation risk Mark Blyth and Nicolò Fraccaroli As temperatures rise and countries back off their decarbonization efforts, we must confront a reality central banks can’t correct Tue 22 Apr 2025  Inflation is, at base, a tax on consumption – and it hits the poor…

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Excluding concessional finance, developing countries spend more servicing debt than they receive in new loans. There are solutions.

from Debt Economy article: In 2023, five African countries had negative net financing flows (Angola, Botswana, Gabon, Republic of Congo, and South Africa). If you exclude concessional financing flows, 22 African countries were in the red in 2023. Net financing flows to developing countries remain precariously low Aid and concessional loans have propped up net…

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Democracy reimagined: rebuilding trust.

16 April 2025 Mik Aidt Commentary Leave a comment Can trust in politics be rebuilt? A new online citizens’ assembly model offers a real pathway forward – an exciting experiment in citizen-powered democracy, combining people power with the smart use of AI. 20-minute interview with Eddie Kowalski on The Sustainable Hour – plus a song…

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